Welcome to daily בטחון on our daily dose of gratitude series where we're talking about finding Hashem in creation. רב וולבה in his ספר עלי שור, volume 2, page 59, quotes from רבינו יונה in שערי תשובה, the third gate, the 17th piece. Where he's talking about מצוות עשה that we have to know about, that we need to do. And he says you should know that some of the most highly lofty levels are actually given to us as commands. We're commanded to love Hashem. We're commanded to cleave to him. These are commandments, but they're also high levels. We have to work on them. And one of the things that he lists is מעלות התבונן בגדולת השם. The quality of delving and looking into the greatness of God. And he brings two sources. Number one, וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי השם הוא האלקים. Now, how do you do that? How do you realize השם הוא האלקים? By looking into creation. דוד המלך said in תהלים 14:2, השם משמים השקיף על בני אדם. God's looking down from heavens. And we know the term השקיף, רש״י tells us in פרשת כי תבוא, is usually negative. And what's God looking down at us in this negative way? לראות היש משכיל, is there someone that's using his intellect, דורש את אלקים, searching for God, looking for God in creation?רבינו יונה ends off and says, we were created for these to reach these qualities. As it says in ישעיהו 43:7, כל הנקרא בשמי, whoever calls, is called by my name, ולכבודי בראתיו, and is here for my honor, I created him. I created him to call my name and to bring my honor out to the world. And therefore, he says, if that's the case, what is man's hope if he doesn't put his עמל נפשו, his hard work, עיקר עסקו, and his main business בדברים שנברא בעבורם, for those things he was created for? So, what we're doing now in שער הבחינה is dedicating ourselves to this responsibility. רב וולבה further quotes from the חפץ חיים in his ספר שמירת הלשון volume 2 at the end of the ספר, chapter two, where he talks about the מצוה ואהבת את השם. And he says, I want to arouse you on an important point. The גמרא ברכות 14A tells us in the name of עולא, whoever says קריאת שמע not wearing תפילין is as if he's saying false testimony on himself. Why? Because he says and tie תפילין and you're not. So you're testifying falsely. And he says, the same is true when you say ואהבת את השם אלקיך. When you say and love Hashem your God, you can't have false testimony. And therefore, you have to put into your heart to love Hashem.And how do you do that? And again he quotes the חובות הלבבות in שער אהבת השם, chapter three, which as we mentioned yesterday, the חובות הלבבות does not deny that you get love of Hashem through looking into creation. Just he says we start with fear of God and then we get to love of God. And what should you do? Look into the greatness of God and his loftiness and that he keeps all the worlds going and look at how small you are and look at with the greatness of God and the smallness of you, look at all the goodness he gives to you consistently from the day you are on the earth, not because you're deserving, hides your sins from people and has patience with you. That's what you're supposed to think about and say, wow, look how much what Hashem's doing for me. And he says if it's difficult to think all this when you're saying קריאת שמע, do it sometime during the day. Interesting, I once heard from רב וולבה that's why we have the ברכות of יוצר המאורות in our in our תפלה before we say קריאת שמע. And he says, because it's a constant מצוה that's not time dependent, does that mean it should be less than anything else? And he says, ideally, do it right after you pray before you eat. Before you have your your your breakfast. Why? Like any מצוה, like לולב, like אתרוג, like תפילין, like מגילת אסתר on the night of פורים after a fast day, we don't eat until we fulfill the מצוה. So how could you eat before you fulfill the מצוה ואהבת את השם? And how do you do that? By looking into creation. You could actually do that as you walk to the breakfast table and look at the beautiful kiwis with all those little seeds in the middle and how beautiful and tasty it is. And so on and so forth. And then say, wow, look at this. Hashem made this beautiful feast for me, even though I don't deserve it. And as great as he is, he looks at little me and makes sure I have breakfast.